Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends was an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from 1988 to 1995, and on Nickelodeon (in reruns) from 1997 to 2000. it also featured on Fox Family Channel The show's seven seasons make it one of the longest running Saturday morning cartoons in history, with most only lasting one or two seasons. In Canada, it aired on YTV from 1989 to 1996. The 1st through 4th seasons now air on Netflix. Regular segments featured both Garfield and U.S. Acres, a lesser-known comic strip also created by Davis. The latter was retitled Orson's Farm for foreign syndication.242 Garfield segments and 121 U.S. Acres segments were produced. There were two "Garfield" segments on each show, two "quickie" shorts based on Sunday comic strips, and in between was a U.S. Acres segment. A total of 121 half-hours were produced, and all have been released in the U.S. on five DVD sets by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The first season aired in a half-hour format. In the second season, it switched to an hour-length format, showing two episodes each week. However, in the show's last season, the second half-hour of the show featured either an episode from the previous season or one of Garfield's TV specials. Production When the show was originally broadcast on CBS, the episodes usually had three Quickies (30- to 45-second gags), usually two "Garfield Quickies" (the first one being played before the intro theme) and one "U.S. Acres Quickie," the latter of which was never shown in syndication. Midway through the second season, "Screaming with Binky" quickie-style segments were added. These "Screaming with Binky" segments were typically used at the halfway point of hour long blocks of Garfield and Friends (as Garfield ended each one with "We'll be right back.") to let the viewers know that unlike most Saturday morning cartoons at the time, it was not over in the usual half-hour. However, in the syndicated reruns, only one Quickie is shown per episode, and it's always at the end rather than around the shorts. The DVD sets and Boomerang reruns restore the original rotation. After the third season, only one "Garfield Quickie" is shown per episode. Cancellation With all the networks scaling back on their Saturday morning cartoon schedules, CBS asked Film Roman to cut the show's budget, which the production company rejected, instead agreeing with the network to end the show after the seventh season, which garnered high ratings however. The CBS Television Network scrapped its Saturday morning cartoon line-up in September 1997. References to the Two Cartoons Within the cartoons of Garfield and U.S. Acres, each one has numerous references, in jokes, or cameos, usually through merchandise. For example, in season one, Bo owns pajamas with Garfield's face on it in "I Like Having You Around." After the conclusion of "Attack of the Mutant Guppies", there is a second U.S. Acres Quickie that shows that the guppies, after being chased off by Nermal and Garfield, escaped to the farm. After they do this, they say they want to go on Muppet Babies instead. Also, in "The Lasagna Zone," when Garfield is running through the channels with the help of Odie, one of the channels shows Booker and Sheldon staring blankly at Garfield. Apparently, this was the last shot of the quickie in that episode. Wade also makes a cameo appearance in "The Bear Facts" when Garfield shows Odie which animals live in the wild. In "Happy Garfield Day", Orson and Roy appear on a couch watching the "12 Courses of Dinner" song, and Roy farts (this is implied because Orson turns around to look at Roy). Also, for a few seconds in the song, we see Sheldon and Wade on the same couch. In "Swine Trek", Orson has a walkie-talkie in the shape of Garfield. In "Peanut-Brained Rooster", when you eat lunch with Orson, you are depicted as having a Garfield lunchbox. In the Old Mother Hubbard scene of Kiddie Korner, Odie is Old Mother Hubbard's dog. Garfield also makes a cameo in "Day Dream Doctor" holding spaghetti. In Mystic Manor, Garfield slides down a pole as Roy, Orson and Wade wave to him. Garfield appears with Orson and Wade in "The Mail Animal". Orson tells Wade he has to help Lanolin with her job on the farm and Garfield comes in and says " Come Back ! My cartoon is not over". In "Roy Gets Sacked", Binky the Clown appears in the unemployment queue, a reference to "Binky Gets Cancelled". In "Newsworthy Wade, a clock in the background has Garfield on it, whose hands are the clock hands. Also there is a U.S. Acres episode called "Mystery Guest" where Garfield is the mystery guess and people (even Jon Arbuckle) phone in to guess who he is. Note, as a joke, Jon (over the phone) says that Garfield (who is wearing a mask over his eyes) looks familiar, but he can't figure out who he is. In "Flop Goes the Weasel", Booker sets a trap for a worm and uses a hamburger as bait. He catches Odie in his trap and tells Odie that he is on the wrong cartoon. Awards Garfield and Friends won the Young Artist Award in 1989 for "Best Animation Series". Also in January 2009 IGN named Garfield and Friends the best animated television series. Episodes from Garfield and Friends. Category:Garfield and Friends, TV Show Category:TV specials